Those gentle hands
by Force Rouge
Summary: Hinata breaks a finger in the middle of practice and get to think about what it means to play volleyball. Cue worrying teammates, mother hen Suga, protective Kageyama and healer Asahi.


*sweats* It's my first Haikyuu! work and my first attempt at english writing, so if you spot mistakes - and I think I made quite a few - please tell me !  
TW : injury, graphic explanation, fingers, "magical" healing. Faint traces of Kageyama/Hinata and Hinata/Asahi if you squint. Hope you like it !

* * *

The first time Hinata breaks a finger, he's fifteen, and it's been five months since he joined the Karasuno Team. They're in practice, doing 3 on 3 games, and for once Kageyama is on the other side, along with Tsukishima and Daichi. Something to do with a punishment, but Hinata thinks – and Noya agrees – that the captain didn't think it through. Those two are brutal when they play together, and it figures that Hinata first real injury would happen at the hand of the blonde, spiking a ball that he can't block.

Worse, a ball that strike on his fingertips, just one hand, outstretched but not enough. The ball goes on a plate, but this time Hinata isn't hollering for a free ball, no, this time, he quickly and gracelessly fall back on earth, the crack audible to everyone in the court.

He doesn't hear it, though, not when suddenly the world is white and soundless, the agony flowing from his hand to his whole body, like a dizzy spell. He's guided to a chair, without comprehending anything, keeping his hand close to his chest.

Time seems to flow, and sounds are buzzing around him, but it's only when warm hands are around his neck that he snaps back in the world, looking to the close and almost concerned face of Asahi. Half the team seems to be hovering just around his shoulder, squabbling and asking if he's okay, while Noya insensitively point out that he's green, like, his face went from red to white and blue, then green.

"You alright ?" Asahi asks in his baritone voice, a whisper but just enough to get to Hinata's mind, and his face blooms red with embarrassment.

"I- I think so !" He tries with an almost normal voice, hoping no one will notice the waver at the end of it. He grins, and tries to waggle his fingers in Suga's face, to erase his concerned face, but the moment he flexes his left hand, white dots flows over his eyes and he begin to fall again, only saved by Asahi who's still supporting him, anchoring him with his big hands, warm on his shivery skin.

Coach Ukai is here then, with an emergency kit, and he gently takes his injured hand, applying a cold gel to the skin and critically looking at his fingers. "Seems like you just sprained it, but I can't be too sure. Never happened to you before ?"

Behind the concern, Hinata can hear the surprise, like it's unusual. He reddens again, and stammers about his lack of practice, real practice, outside of Karasuno, and the coach nods, sighing. It just points to his inexperience and suddenly the redhead _hates_ that he's so weak that he can't take a broken finger.

The others are still here, too, and Tanaka is spouting some nonsense about how he broke half of his fingers when he hit a wall in middle school – Ennoshita is facepalming at that – and that he will be okay real soon, but Hinata don't think so. Fingers – and hands – are kind of a big thing in volleyball, and he can't helps but fears that healing them will take time, time he already have wasted enough.

He spasms when the Coach touch his finger, and stop zoning out, listening quietly to his advice ; warm salted water, a splinter, maybe some bandages to strengthen his fingers during practice, some medication, and if it doesn't stop hurting in two days, then, the hospital. Asahi is still crouching before him, quiet, stroking his neck and Hinata wonder if the giant ever broke his own. If their Ace could take it, then he could.

But for now, he can't ask, and he's handed a bottle, drink right handed while Suga phones his mother. She won't be able to come pick him up, he know that, so it means going home alone. Kageyama vehemently refuse when he try to say it's no big deal and that he'd done it billions of time already, even sick. "You won't be able to brake or control your bike with one hand, dumbass !" "Will too !" "Will not !"

They begin to bicker and the rest of the team goes back to practice, reassured on his wellbeing. Asahi slips away and Hinata forgets to ask, his whole spirit focused on winning the argument.

He doesn't.

Daichi comes to him, smile and then the first years both freeze. "Since you're so worried, Kageyama, can you go with him ? Suga's spoke with your mom too, she's okay with you sleeping over." The setter never has the chance to say no, doesn't even look like he wants to argue, just grunt in agreement and scowls. That's normal behaviour for Kageyama, so Hinata isn't very bothered, but he pouts all the same, whining that he's not a baby. That get him a smile from the captain and a scoff from Tsukishima who seems to have heard it all, but he doesn't care. Missing practice and being forced home early isn't funny.

* * *

They get home safely enough, even if they don't race on the way. When Hinata try, he get yanked by his hoodie and sharply told to go slow, like he's some kind of fragile thing. But he has to admit that he's getting tired real fast, so maybe slow is okay.

The journey is silent, broken by his babbling on practice, kenma related things – mostly unpronounceable monsters and games he played – and how the Captain is soo scary. His setter let him speak, wheeling the bike, interrupting sometimes to fling him an insult. Same old here.

His mother is there, fresh off work, but without his baby sister. He's grateful for it, kind of, because baby sisters don't care for injuries and wants to be picked up all the time. She engulfs him in a hug, thanks Kageyama and forces him to sit down on the settee, taking her own medic pack and riffling through it for new bandages. By then, his whole hand has begun to throb, but it doesn't exactly hurt. It's more like a numbing sensation. He still takes the pills his mom give him, and goes to his room to change.

Kageyama follow him, shadow him, even, and helps him out of his shirt. They are equally red in the face and making it a no big deal, but Hinata will never tell him that it's kind of nice to have him here. In his room and his territory, nervous but still the same, stable and scary.

They try to do homework, mostly Kageyama, because the redhead is shamelessly using his injury to skip on his, but by the time they have to get down to eat, his energy levels enter an all-time low. No bouncing down the stairs, no battle cries in the home, and it's kind of unnerving for the other first year to see him so quiet, so he nudges him with his shoulder and make conversation with Hinata's mother, while flicking his eyes to him almost every three seconds.

Hinata doesn't see it, though, eating his rice and soup on automatic. He can't remember the last time he was hurt like that, and that's because he never broke anything. Being tiny means a lower center of gravity, and like a baby, he bounces back, or that's what his father used to say. Milk is something he drinks regularly – because he heard once that it was supposed to make you grow – so his bones are great, and even if he played lots of sport in school, then volleyball, he wasn't the kind of kid to have accidents. Pinching muscles, growing pains – yeah, _he had those_ – bruises and aches, that he knew a lot. Exhaustion after practice, he was quickly becoming addicted to that feeling, a burn in his lungs and his heart pumping double the time it should from excitement and running, all of those, he was accustomed to.

That feel in his hand, like something had snapped and was all twisted, never. Like a shard embedded in his skin – he had those, once – all prickly and making him shiver when he moved. A body part that couldn't be trusted anymore to survive on its own, that wouldn't function. He didn't like it.

His mother sensed his turn of mood and send them to bed gently, ruffling his head and kissing his hair. He doesn't have it in him to protest so he just mumble quickly a "love you" and then go, flopping on his futon and groaning. He didn't last the whole practice but he hadn't stretched after the accident, and now the pain was definitely there.

He hears Kageyama rustling about in the futon next to him, and sighs. He doesn't make a good host, not this time. But he can't sleep, no matter how hard his eyes are drooping, not with the massive pain in his left hand and the insecurity under his skin. Did it only happened to him, did he have a bad form ? Was it common to break fingers – or anything – at their level ? Hinata wasn't a fool, he knew that injuries happened often at pro levels, and that they could break even the most shining players. He wouldn't mind breaking something if he could still play, play even better, after. But breaking fingers on something as mediocre as a missed block, it seemed kind of weak.

"Hey, you're asleep ?" The light on his bedside table was still on, and he could hear the setter moving, but his drugged brain was saying what it wanted.

"..What do you think ?" Yeah, that was a standard answer, once again. Shifting so that he could be on his good side, Hinata looked at his friend, letting his insecurities rules his face, for once. He seemed much younger than he already looked and maybe that was why Kageyama swallowed his next sharp retort. Sighing, he looked at that miserable pout and asked, weary of everything, "what ?".

"Did you ever broke your fingers ?" That needed an answer, and a serious one. Scowling, but understanding a bit where Hinata came from, the brunet sat on his bed and splayed his hands on the white futon of his friend. Making sure he had his attention, he began to speak, slowly but without bite. That was something he had struggled on for some times, too, when he was younger.

"Broke eight of them. Some, twice. It happened more when I was a first year in middle school, because the third years were powerful, and they didn't care if the only line up in front of them was made of weaklings. If you're a setter, it's kind of requisite to at least sprain them. You can't pick up a good form to receive the ball without hurting your forearms, well you can't send the ball where you want without twisting your hands in all kind of directions."

Hinata was listening, his face close to his hands, looking at them in a new light. Sure, they were rough, with callouses that didn't belonged on a fifteen years old, but he had never looked at them closely. Kageyama had long fingers, radiating strength and skills, full of red marks and little bumps. He didn't have long fingernails, no big thumbs, hands that could have played piano. Those hands sent him the best spikes.

Kageyama flexed them, then tried to make them flatten on the bed. He couldn't.

"The thing is, when you break them often enough, it doesn't heal exactly right. I can straighten them enough to play, but I can't flex them like I want when I've not warmed them before. Sometimes writing hurt, because the articulations pop, and some moves I won't do easily when I'm older. That's what the doctors said, anyhow."

Hinata looked at him sharply at that, disbelief evident on his face. Hurting his fingers like that when he needed them ? Flushing, Kageyama didn't let him protest.

"I'm not saying that I won't be able to play now, dumbass. It's just something you have to be prepared for, when you aim for sports. If you don't give all you have, you don't win. Sometimes, that means sacrificing something. Maybe when I'm forty or so I'll have troubles, but I'd rather have troubles then than never touching a ball again, you know ?"

Hinata knew that, oh he knew that well enough. It didn't matter if his knees hurt after practice, if his palms were red from hitting the ball, if he sported bruises for weeks on his shin after a missed receive. Volleyball was so wonderful, so breathtaking that he had never thought on an after – an after where he wouldn't be playing anymore. He had that youthful confidence in his body, that would overcome everything thrown at him.

"So.. it's alright ? I mean, it won't hurt for long and I'll be back in practice soon ?"

"Yeah, you will. Maybe a week off, and some special gloves to protect them after, but it heals fast. And after the first one, you don't feel the pain the same way. It gets better."

Okay, maybe it didn't get better, but you got used to the pain, after the first one. It become an inconvenience more than a pain, something that got in the way of more practice and perfectly aimed balls, something to remind you that you weren't above injury. Sometimes it was the warning bell that you needed to take time off, sometimes it was to make practice even more important. Mostly it was just life and accidents, not a big deal.

Fingers between his made Kageyama look up from his lost thoughts, and he looked Hinata in the eye, emotionless before his small tired smile and his "thanks for that".

They fell asleep still holding hands, curled on each other.

* * *

Days passed, and there was no sign of amelioration from his finger. Touching it hurts, moving his hand hurts, and Hinata was slowly getting frustrated. He finally yanked the bandage on it, with a big yelp, to look at what was really wrong, and got a full view of his dark, inflated finger, instantly feeling a bit woozy. That wasn't good, at all.

No one was at home, sadly, so he couldn't take advice, but he was already late for school, and anyway he didn't needed two hands to get there. With how long he had been bicycling on this road, he could even do it without his hands, the both of them.

So he got to Karasuno and went looking for his friends, even if he was still banned from practice. Maybe one of them would know what to do.

At least the three full days of rest he had gotten had boosted his energy, and he could take the pain better than he had at the beginning. So he smiled and laughed when the team welcomed him back, apologizing to Suga and Daichi for the bother. They only smiled at him so he felt a lot better, but it was Asahi who spotted his finger again, and suddenly stammered.

"It's- uh it's not, not healed !"

With that, the hope of going quietly to Suga's side to ask him about him without alarming anyone else flew by, and the redhead groaned as he was once again the subject of unwanted attention – or pampering - from his upset teammates. "It's fine ! Well, I mean, it's not but it doesn't hurt that much, I just don't understand why it didn't heal.."

A pleading look at the blonde seemed to make the trick and suddenly Suga was smiling and sending the others to practice, leading him to another chair and looking at his hands seriously. He asked questions, about the pain, if he could move it, some other things that Hinata answered easily enough. He was unaware of the big presence looming just before him, accustomed to Asahi, but he still startled when he spoke in place of Suga.

"It's not sprained, not the way it is. I think it's dislocated."

Not hearing him stammers again was refreshing, but mostly Hinata was blinking, not exactly understanding the difference. From the soft "ah" and the grimace of remembered pain on Suga's face, it wasn't good.

"So... it's not broken?"

"No, it would hurt a lot more if it has. You just popped the articulation, and now it won't heal until it's popped back in place."

That actually didn't sound good at all. Breathing through his nose, the redhead kept his head together, even if he was freaking out because his _bone_ was _out of place_ , and looked from one third year to the other.

"What am I supposed to do then, just.. yank on it?"

"NO !"

Okay, so this was definite. Asahi was right back in his space, cupping his knee, and Suga has his arms crossed like he had summoned a demon or something.

"Then what ? I have to go the hospital ? They're going to keep me out of practice for weeks !"

And it was true, that. The last time Tanaka had tripped over nothing while following Kiyoko, he sprained his ankle and was taken to the emergency room by the nurse school. Instead of a week of funny walks, he had gotten a cast for two months and crunches, and had promptly throw both of them away the instant he had been out of there.

"There might be another way."

This got his attention and Hinata took a pleading look, asking Suga about it. At the same time, Asahi seemed to understand and began to vehemently refuse – what, he had no idea, but it was kind of funny seeing the big guy getting all scared again. Suga sported a semi-smile so the redhead didn't thought much of it.

"Asahi-san here, while hiding it quite skilfully, is pretty good at helping farm animals when they are hurt, and I heard he could do it on humans too. Runs in the family."

Hinata's eyes bulged and he looked at the Ace with shining eyes, believing it instantly.

"Wooo, Asahi-san, that's sooo cool ! Does it means you will help me ? You can help me with it ? Why didn't you did it last time ?"

The ace, thought, wasn't looking so good, and was even going to a nice shade of green. To be put on the spot wasn't nice to anyone, him more so, and he sent a wounded look to his friend, who grinned in return. Traitor. They knew why he didn't made this little talent known, but here he was, forced to explain it.

"Ah, Hinata, it's... it's not an exact science and I didn't want to hurt you-"

"That's bullshit, you would never hurt me !"

Suga's smile widened, Asahi's brows knotted together in awe, and Hinata didn't thought of it. Asahi was too big of a softie to ever hurt anyone, even if it had took him some days at the beginning to adjust his thinking. Size didn't make someone more threatening – but it would make Kageyama death glare more manageable, maybe – and Asahi didn't have a violent bone in his body. So he trusted him.

Mostly, at this point, he trusted anything that could solve this, but still.

"You're sure ? It's... some people don't believe it work and..."

"I've seen it, Asahi, and it worked just fine on Daichi last time, too." Suga wasn't relenting, and the Ace was looking more and more trapped.

"Fine..."

* * *

The actual healing took place in their changing room. Hinata sat on the bench, Asahi's big frame huddled in front of him, taking his hand in his palm and closing his eyes. Suga was a comforting shadow seated along him, gripping his other hand, in case it did hurt.

The third year seemed to pray in a murmur, manipulating slowly his hand and pressing points on his palm, joints and fingers, all peaceful and radiating assurance. It was nice seeing him so calm, so sure of himself, not a bundle of nerves and distraughts looks anymore. It made Hinata wonders why the third year would hide behind that low self esteem if he was so confident in this. He didn't have the time to ponders it, thought, as Asahi's prayer got louder, and then with a sharp word and a tug, he put back in place the darkened finger. Without any pain.

Almost as soon as it was done, stilling just for a moment in disbelief and waiting for any pain to come late, Hinata threw himself in his arms, thanking him, finally waggling his left hand, able to move it, in awe of what had happened, demanding explanations and gushing about it. It had worked, and he could move it, and Asahi was super awesome. All this time, Suga laughed at the embarrassment written all over the Ace's face, teasing him about his lack of faith in himself.

And they got back to practice.

* * *

The second time Hinata broke a finger, it was during the nationals, and he didn't wince. He had a game to win, adrenaline to keep him high, a trusted setter at his side, and big, warm hands to heal him after.

* * *

For those interested : yes, volleyball means sprained or broken fingers. It's like a given in high school, even more when you get newbies or not exactly pro players. Yes, I speak from personal experience, and yes, I can't stretch my fingers now, ten years after I stopped playing. It kind of bothered me that the manga didn't mentioned this kind of injuries.

As for Asahi's prayer and healing, well we got a nifty thing in my country called a Rebouteux. Basically it's a farmer, often descending from a line of healers, who can help people and cattle with his hands. Some use prayers, too, but mostly they can take away pain and move your muscles and bones by hand. I got to them for three sprained ankles, one dislocated finger and one dislocated hip, and each time I was walking and moving perfectly after. Asahi seemed like the kind of people who would have that gift but would be scared to use it.

Finally, hope you enjoyed it ! It needs a lot of editing and I know the transitions aren't great, but for a work done in 4 hours, I'm feeling pretty great !


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